First Tahoe trip

We headed up to Tahoe the evening of the 26th for a few days of skiing.  It didn't really snow while we were there but it was pretty cold.  Here's my crew headed off to ski after I dropped them off in the parking lot.  I asked Tom to take pictures out on the mountain but that didn't happen, so this is all I've got.  

 Sunday night was our housemate Carlo's 13th birthday.  Last year we celebrated with disco tubing.  This year we went out to dinner.  Leo and I headed into the village before everyone else so we could put our name on the waitlist.  We killed some time wandering around the village.  Here's a cool ice sculpture that was on display.  That's my dad's hat he's wearing.

 And the big tree.

 Here's the birthday boy on the right with his brother Nico and dad Stephan.

The 49ers game was on at the restaurant so the kids got stuck waiting for the adults to watch the end of the game.  They didn't sit around bored too much.  They mostly played outside even though it was really cold.  

 Back at the house everyone celebrated with dessert.

Christmas Eve and Christmas 2019

We went to see the new Star Wars movie on Christmas Eve.  It was $6 Tuesday at the nice theater at the mall so the only showtime we could get seats for was 4:15.  I was worried that would interfere with dinner too much but it worked out just fine.  It was a really fun way to break up a day that can be a bit stressful because of anticipation and preparations.  The movie was only so-so but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  

 Nana joined us, of course.

 After dinner we still had time to make our traditional butter cookies for Santa.

 I didn't take a single picture on Christmas day except of this certificate Tom gave to me and the kids.  We are so excited to go back to Disneyland and, of course, combine it with visiting family.

 Our Christmas day was full of food and relaxing (I even got to take a nap!).

Here are two bonus pictures of some Christmas displays I very much enjoyed.  I love the big Minion keeping watch over the Nativity scene.

 This magical mushroom is just a few doors down from my mom's apartment.

Santa at DAU

We visited Santa at Serafina's dance studio today.  That's where we went last year too.  It's not as crazy as the mall and it's free! 

Serafina decided not to fully crush Santa this year and the picture still turned out super cute.  

I have all my past Santa photos on display currently.  Well the ones that include Serafina.   It's pretty fun to look back.  

Serafina's class holiday potluck

 Leo and I attended Serafina's class party.  There were games and a big potluck.  Here's Serafina eating the marshmallows from the "Build a Snowman" game.

 Serafina and Nora.

Leo built a tank with his marshmallows.  

 They also played "Lefty the Elf" which they also played two years ago when Leo was in that class.

Here's Serafina with a crew of class friend eating some yummy potluck food.

 We had our friends the Ciccottos over last night for a pre-holiday dinner since they are headed out of town on Sunday.  I didn't take any pictures of the people, but I took this picture of the tomato soup cake I made.  It's a yummy spice cake with a cream cheese frosting.  You don't taste any tomato; it just adds a nice moisture to the cake.

The Nutcracker 2019

Tonight was the final of four shows of the school's production of "The Nutcracker".  Serafina wanted to be an Arabian dancer since the first time she saw The Nutcracker and this year her dream came true.  

Not only did she love performing the dance and the gymnastics, she bonded with the other girls and had fun with her group.  

Here are most of the kids waiting their turn to perform.  

Arabian dancers lined up to go to the cafeteria to perform.  

Here's a video from dress rehearsal.   

 

Lined up for the bow during the finale.  

Finale song. 

After three after-school rehearsals last week and four performances in two days, both Serafina and I are exhausted.  Thank god we have a long time before we have to think about the Nutcracker again.

Winter Songfest

Today was Winter Songfest at Leo's school.  He looked really sharp in his choir robe.  

 All the high school and middle school kids participate in show choir.

They performed four songs.  Two were medalies of holiday classics.  They also did one of my favorite holiday songs.  It's from the original Chuck Jones "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" movie.

 After the choir performed, the elementary school kids took their turn  I had to sneak out so I could get back to Serafina's school's Nutcracker dress rehearsal.  I ducked out through the classroom they were using as a dressing room.  I snapped this quick picture while Leo scolded me for breaking the rules.

Los Gatos Christmas Parade

Serafina had her last performance of the holiday season.  The Performance Team will do more events in the spring, but today's participation in the Los Gatos Christmas Parade was the finale for this year.
Serafina had to be at her group's meeting spot at 8:30am.  The forecast wasn't looking too good, but when we headed out in the morning she spotted some blue sky.  

 Since we were there so early, I found a parking spot with no issues and we started walking the parade route to find the perfect spot for me to lay down my chairs and tarp.

 We made it to the meeting spot and Serafina was happy to see her friends.  The girls were excited and they kept warm practicing their steps.  Once she was in good hands with the dance team leader and the teaching assistances, I headed back to the car to stay warm and dry.

 It was windy and a bit cold.  Tom and Leo took a Lyft to get down to the parade route, which was better than trying to park another car in the crowded downtown.  It did rain a little during the parade but we survived.  Leo's favorite part was all the cute dogs.

The dance team was entry 109 out of 221.  We were pretty excited to see her go by and did a good job embarrassing her with our hollering.  My family would have been proud since we are notorious for our hooting and hollering.  

The rain started coming down after she was mostly done and we were headed back to the car.

We were really proud of her and it was a festive, fun time.  It made me miss the Seal Beach Christmas Parade, which was part of our holiday tradition before the kids were in school. 

San Juan Bautista Field Trip

Today Serafina and all the fourth graders headed down to the mission in San Juan Bautista for a field trip.  We took the same trip two years ago with Leo's class.  There was rain in the forecast earlier in the week, but the rain held off and we had nice weather.  

Here's all the fourth graders listening to a mission "ambassador" explain some rules and history.  There are five 4th grade classes and more kids in that single grade than in Leo's entire school.  

 Like usual, I was only assigned four to keep track of, and they were actually a really good group.  From left to right is Lina, Anthony, Shay and Serafina.

 I made them pose for lots of pictures and they weren't always happy about it but they did it anyway.  Here they are in front of the mission.

 There were some chickens wandering around this settler's cabin and the kids thought they were hilarious. At the end of the day, we had a little extra time and the kids asked if we could go back and see the chickens again.

 Here's my Italian girl pretending to put a pizza in a tradition Mexican oven called a horno.

 Posing with the John the Baptist statue.  You can see how clear and nice it was outside.

 Serafina got ahold of my phone and took some selfies.

 Proof I was there!

 They pretended to be angels in front of the angel statues.

They were really good.  One of the best field trip groups I've ever had, and when we were back in the classroom and I was packing up to leave, Anthony told me I was the best chaperone he's ever had.  That made my day.